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UK police have announced they will take no further action against Kiwi journalist Dan Wootton after he was accused of creating fake online profiles to offer colleagues money to film sex acts.
Wootton responded to the claims in July 2023, denying any wrongdoing but admitting to “errors ofjudgment in the past”.
He claimed he was the victim of a smear campaign, saying it was “a witch-hunt”.
The allegations saw him suspended by the Daily Mail.
Now London’s Metropolitan Police has confirmed their investigation is over and no further action will be taken.
“Officers assessed all information available to establish whether any criminal offence has taken place,” a spokesperson told the BBC.
“An investigation was commenced into these allegations. All parties involved have now been advised that no further action will be taken. There were no arrests during the investigation.”
Dan Wootton was suspended from GB News over an unrelated incident.
Wootton issued a statement to say the allegations were “completely spurious - lies designed to destroy my career where complainants were actuated by malice”.
“I was brought up to trust in the English legal system; to believe in freedom, due process, natural justice and the rule of law – the right of every man or woman to a fair trial, and the presumption of innocence until proven guilty in a court of law,” Wootton said.
He again referred to the accusations as a “witch-hunt” and hit out at “the left wing and social media”.
“While I knew this would always be the outcome, the process is now the punishment, with social media acting as the executioner,” the former Dominion Post journalist said.
“Margaret Thatcher once said that if you ever get trial by media, or guilt by accusation, that day freedom dies.
“She was right. It is high time that all of our ancient rights were once again upheld, chief among them the right to be presumed innocent until found guilty in a court of law.
“If it falls to me to be the champion of those rights, then so be it. It is a fight I am more than willing to take up, not just for me but for all of us.”
In Spare, Harry took aim squarely at Dan Wootton for beating him to announcing “Megxit” in 2020, labelling him a “sad little man”.
Dan Wootton's front-page Sun scoop.
Harry claimed that Wootton, then working for The Sun, was “likely working in concert with the Palace, whose courtiers were determined to get ahead of us and spin the story”.
He wrote that he then went to the Queen to seek permission to release his own statement, to scoop Wootton.
“We soon realised it wasn’t possible; we didn’t have time to get our statement out there first. We opened a bottle of wine. Proceed, sad little man, proceed. He did.”
Wootton responded fiercely to the duke’s claims, writing in the Daily Mail: “It’s called journalism, mate, something you clearly don’t believe in, given the inaccuracies littered throughout your book.”
